Monthly Archives: April 2014

In a meeting last week with the education staff at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Deborah Gaston, Addie, Ashley and Lucinda Presley) we discussed how to incorporate lights into pop-up cards as part of the museum’s ongoing programs combining art and science. I reviewed my experience with public school teachers in Charlottesville, Virginia, and we outlined the steps in a possible lesson plan. Plus, we tried some hands-on circuitry ourselves. After that, a trip to my favorite nearby eatery, Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken for their famous Creme Brulee doughnuts.

It was a teacher workshop session filled with surprises, including trips to the darkness of the women’s (rebranded unisex) bathroom to see our lighted projects working. The workshop I gave last Friday for teachers in the Charlotteville, Virginia, city school system was a successful attempt to combine a basic electric light circuit with a pop-up card. We began working through a series of pop-up structures, then built a circuit made of a lithium battery, copper tape, an LED sticker light, and a sliding paper switch to turn the light on and off as the card opened and closed. With the addition of a pop-up, we achieved lighted campfires, buildings, and creatures. The challenge for the teachers now is to work this into a lesson on paper engineering and electronics for their summer school students. Thanks to the Noyce Foundation for funding this project and to all who participated!

My Corcoran paper engineering students have been cooking up a three-dimensional storm, with pop-up foods illustrating a recipe of their choice. Dishes represent an international fare, including Chilean causa rellena, Mexican churros, insalata di fagioli, chicken and cheese enchiladas, couscous tangine, cheese souffle and pop0vers. Then for dessert there are Nutella cookies and chocolate pudding pie. Who could resist? At the end of the semester we’ll be having a picnic with the real foods on the table.

My flight arrived in Manchester, New Hampshire, Wednesday evening, and I had a beautiful drive from there to Concord where I was staying. Up early the next morning, I proceeded to Pittsfield and I had a great day working with a group of eight middle and high school teachers, exploring the subject of paper engineering and how it can be integrated into lessons on such varied subjects as math, science, reading and literature. We spent the day building pop-up models and discussing possible links to classroom curricula. I think everyone had a good time, as can be seen by the results here.

After school, art teacher Bill Mitchell and I visited the Pittsfield Youth Workshop where a group of young paper enthusiasts designed pop-ups of their own. They immediately came up with ideas for cards to give to people they knew.

Friday was spent with another group — elementary school teachers from various schools in the Pittsfield School District. The teachers had no problem linking the pop-up structures to lessons they could present in their classrooms, and appreciated the idea that designing pop-ups prepares kids from an early age for future work in three-dimensional design and mechanics. It was a fast-paced two days, and I’m anxious to hear how these teachers’ students respond to making pop-ups as part of future class projects. Thank you again for inviting me to Pittsfield Middle High School!